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Log Book With Computer Bug

Log Book With Computer Bug

American engineers have been calling small flaws in machines "bugs" for over a century. Thomas Edison talked about bugs in electrical circuits in the 1870s. When the first computers were built during the early 1940s, people working on them found bugs in both the hardware of the machines and in the programs that ran them.

In 1947, engineers working on the Mark II computer at Harvard University found a moth stuck in one of the components. They taped the insect in their logbook and labeled it "first actual case of bug being found." The words "bug" and "debug" soon became a standard part of the language of computer programmers.

Location

Currently not on view

Date made

1947

director

Aiken, Howard Hathaway

maker

Harvard University

IBM

Harvard University

Aiken, Howard

Place Made

United States: Massachusetts, Cambridge

Physical Description

tape (overall material)

paper (overall material)

cloth (overall material)

ink (overall material)

biologicals (overall material)

Measurements

overall: 1.5 cm x 48.4 cm x 29.5 cm; 9/16 in x 19 1/16 in x 11 5/8 in

ID Number

1994.0191.01

catalog number

1994.0191.1

accession number

1994.0191

Credit Line

Transfer from United States Department of Defense, Naval Surface Warfare Center

Comments

As a former sailor and Plankowner of her Namesake... the term Bug and debugging were both coined by none other that former "Amazing" Grace Hopper who would go on to become a Navy Admiral and serve nearly 4 decades in the U.S. Navy. She has a US warship named after her the USS HOPPER DDG-70. She was one of only 3 Female Admirals and would become a legend in the US Navy. She was retired and asked to come out of retirement on 3 separate occasions.